The Mariners are signing utility player Andy Ibáñez to a minor league contract, reports Francys Romero. He’ll presumably go to Triple-A Tacoma once the deal is finalized.
Ibáñez is on his third organization of the season. He opened the season with the A’s and batted .118 in 11 games before being designated for assignment in late April. The Mets snagged Ibáñez off waivers and outrighted him to Triple-A a couple weeks later. He spent the next three months in the minors but was injured for a good chunk of that time. The Mets released him last week.
The 33-year-old Ibáñez spent a few seasons with the Tigers as a right-handed hitting role player. He hit well against lefty pitching in 2023 and ’24 but dipped to league average production against southpaws last year. Ibáñez is a well below-average hitter versus righties, so he needs to hit lefties to have much value off the bench.
Seattle has underperformed all season and particularly struggled against left-handed pitching. They have a .219/.300/.347 batting line against southpaws. Ibáñez isn’t an option to address their woes at shortstop but has plenty of experience at the other infield spots. The M’s have a heavily left-handed infield with Josh Naylor, Brendan Donovan and Cole Young. Righty-swinging Weston Wilson is in a bench role and has been an above-average hitter against southpaws in his career. That hasn’t been the case in 2026, as Wilson is batting .215 with three homers in 73 plate appearances with the platoon advantage.
